Which subject in the problem is represented by x in your equation?

Question

Ms. Pacheco, Mr. Edwards, and Mr. Richards are three math teachers at Turner Middle School. Ms. Pacheco is three years older than Mr. Richards. Mr. Edwards is twice as old as Mr. Richards. The sum of Mr. Richards’ age and Mr. Edwards’ age is 81.  

How old is each person? 

a) Which subject in the problem is represented by x in your equation? 

Answer 1

For students who struggle with dyslexia, math may sometimes be especially daunting. When solving word problems when words are a problem, simply remove as many words as possible.

Ms. Pacheco, Mr. Edwards, and Mr. Richards are three math teachers at Turner Middle School. Ms. Pacheco is three years older than Mrs. Richards, and Mr. Edwards is twice as old as Mr. Richards. The sum of Mr. Richards' age and Mr. Edwards' age is 81. How old is each person?

Begin at the bottom of the problem and work your way up. First, write the question like the example below:

3

+ 3

x 2

81

How old is each person

Now, start at the top, work your way down, decide what operation to perform, and solve the problem.

81 ÷ 3 = 27 three teachers

27 + 3 = 30 Ms. Pacheco's age

27 x 2 = 54 Mr. Mr. Edwards' age

27 = 27 Mr. Richards' age

Answer 2

You can choose to use x to represent the age of any the 3 teachers and then express the ages of the others in terms of x. Here I will use x to represent Mr. Richards age as a matter of convenience because the problem states the ages of the other 2 in terms of Mr. Richards age.

Let x = Mr. Richards age

Then 2x = Mr. Edwards age

and x + 3 = Ms. Pachecos age

x + 2x = 81

Solving we get x = 27.

Mr. Richards age is 27.

Mr. Edwards age is 54.

Ms. Pacheros age is 30.